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I saw Brent out of the corner of my eye. He slammed his palm into the wall behind him, letting out an exasperated sigh.
“Great, thanks so much Claire,” she said.
“Sure, and Layken, if he wakes up, tell him I’m on my way and I’ll be there soon.”
“Yeah, I will. See you soon,” Layken said with relief in her voice.
“You’re kidding, right? We are not going back to Northfield,” Brent sighed, with his back to me. His palm was still on the wall and his head rested on his arm.
After sliding my shirt back on, I got up from the bed and went to him. I put my hand on his arm and urged him to look at me. “Please Brent. I have to make sure he is okay”
Brent spun around, his expression unreadable. “Claire, he’s fine. Let him sleep it off and then you can call him. Going back there is dangerous. We can’t keep tempting fate.”
I folded my arms across my chest and sucked in a courageous breath.
“I’m going and I would really like it if you went with me. You can choose not to come if you want,” I sassed, stopping just short of stomping my feet.
“Jesus, you’re exhausting woman, you fuc…you promised that you wouldn’t leave again,” Brent reminded me of our earlier conversation.
I grinned proudly when he caught himself before using the f-word.
“No, I promised that I wouldn’t leave without telling you. That’s exactly what I’m doing. The rest is up to you,” I clarified, throwing the ball in his court.
“I believe you also said you would listen to me when I said something was dangerous, which this is, and it’s careless,” Brent countered.
Dammit!
“Layken has friends over. What if something happens to them and I wasn’t there to stop it? I would feel responsible for the rest of my life. I have to go, so please, come with me.” I shamelessly batted my lashes, beseeching him to agree with me.
Brent sighed as he caved, his dark blue eyes burning. “You make me crazy. Do you know that?”
I shrugged and smiled.
“But…, I understand,” he said, his eyes softening, returning to their aqua blue color that I loved so much.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“I still think it’s dangerous.” I started to interrupt, but Brent put his finger on my lips silencing me. The feel of his fingers on my lips caused my cheeks to warm as well as other parts of me. “I get it, though. You’re a good friend, Claire. Logan needs you and you need to be there for him. As much as I don’t like it, it’s also the reason I fell in love with you in the first place.”
“You’re amazing,” I smirked.
“I know,” Brent laughed. “I need a cold shower and you should wake Reese if we’re going to do this. He’s your Aegis now, Claire. He may not be as easy to convince,” Brent suggested, grinning devilishly and closing the bathroom door.
I smiled, realizing Brent was softening his need to control everything to protect me. He still felt the urge, but loved me enough to quell the need in order to make me happy. I frowned knowing that Reese – as my Aegis – may not have the same restraint, and I had to go talk to him.
When I went to wake up Reese, he was sitting on the bed wide awake, jumping up quickly when he saw me.
“What is it, Claire? Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine, but are you all right?” I asked, questioning why he was wide awake at this hour.
“I’m good, Claire. Can’t sleep. Must be part of my new abilities.” He was gaining the abilities needed as my Aegis, which meant, he was going to be none too thrilled with what I was about to say.
“Oh, we’re going to Northfield and need you to come with us,” I announced, leaving out the reason for our departure.
“What? No way. We’re not going there, Claire, It’s not safe.”
“Uh, okay Brent.” I shot back at him sarcastically – annoyed that he had in fact joined the ‘control Claire’ club.
